


1

by Alianova



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clintasha - Freeform, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 03:32:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1967397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alianova/pseuds/Alianova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: English has one word for love. Greek has four. Clint and Natasha have never needed words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own any of it, except my words, no matter how much I wish I do.  
> Eros: erotic love  
> Philia: the love of brothers-in-arms  
> Storge: family love  
> Agape: unconditional love

Eros came first, as it so often does. How could it not when Natasha moved so sensually, utterly aware of the effect she had, when Clint’s arms rippled with thinly-veiled strength?  
Philia was next. It came on their first mission together, fighting their way out of a warehouse back to back. They were brothers-in-arms, two parts working together in a deadly machine, watching each other’s backs as if the instinct was in their very blood.  
They found storge in the moments between. It was shown when Clint made her watch shitty action movies as “team bonding” and when Natasha cooked spaghetti, the one meal she could make decently. It was what lead them into each other’s beds when they heard screaming coming from the next room, knowing that to leave their partner alone with their nightmares was just as bad as having caused them.  
Agape was last, but in some ways it had been there all along. It was there the day he saw the resignation behind the ferocity in her eyes when he had pointed an arrow at her heart and offered her a new life. It was there when she accepted and he missed (the only time in his entire life), leaving an arrow sticking into the wall an inch away from his mark and a gaping hole in her shoulder. They felt it later that night in the hotel room when she shied away at his hands as he tried to patch up the wound he had caused, and he truly understood for the first time what a strange man’s hands on her had meant in the past. It was there when he promised that he would personally slit the throat of anyone who tried that again. It was there as she laughed bitterly at his chivalrous words but felt comforted in spite of herself. And it was there every time they surprised each other, him by constantly taking care of her, never trying to take advantage of her, and her by slowly accepting his gestures, understanding, and finally sharing herself, all of herself, with him.  
English has only one word for love, and Greek has four, but Clint and Natasha have never needed words. They don’t believe in soulmates as people who have been tied to each other since birth, but they do believe in becoming soulmates- allowing someone so deep inside of you that they have changed the very fabric of your being to make space for their soul inside of yours, a space that will never be filled by anything but them again. They believe that love is not a weakness, but rather a strength. They believe that trust is knowing that someone will always have your back, and love is wanting to have theirs, for no better reason than the simple fact that the world is made better by their presence in it. They believe that love is for children because only children can fall and not worry about being caught, and they relish the thought that they have found the childhood they never had. Love is in everything, both large and small. It’s a feeling, an emotion, a biochemical reaction, but it’s also a state of being. It’s knowing when you’ve pushed them too far, and it’s spending every day trying to better yourself for them, not because they expect or even want it, but because they deserve it. Love is insignificant, a shout into the void, but it is also everything, an all-consuming force of passion. Love is open and proud, but it is also secret, kept in a place between the shadows and the soul. More than anything else, love is what makes monsters human in a world full of ledgers gushing red.

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fanfic, so any comments would be appreciated. I really wanted to edit it more, but I knew I would give up on it if I tried, so here it is.  
> Also, if I should change the rating or warnings, please let me know.   
> Last, there were references to both tfios and a Pablo Neruda sonnet in this story, so I'm providing credit here.


End file.
